What Direction Should Wood Floors Be Laid

Hardwood flooring layout which direction.

What direction should wood floors be laid.

Whenever you are placing wood flooring in a hallway or any long and narrow area it should run in the direction away from the doorway. If the room is wider than it is long laying the flooring on the vertical will help create the illusion of length in the room and balance it out. Run it from the front door straight to the back of the house perpendicular to the front. The direction you choose needs to transition when laying hardwood flooring throughout your home you need to take special care in choosing the direction that the wood will be placed.

If there are big windows or an entryway contributing streams of natural light install floors in the same direction as their source. Apart from a few exceptions like sagging joists this is the preferred direction to lay wood floors because it provides the best result aesthetically. Therefore the most popular and significant way to run your wood flooring is to. Wood floors should always be laid perpendicular to floor joists across rather that in between them.

In a nutshell the preference calls for running the flooring front to back as you enter the home. So there is no right or wrong way to lay your wood flooring. If you re installing your flooring on a main floor you will want to float the floor in the same direction throughout all of the rooms to create a cohesive feel. This will make the floors structurally sound and will help prevent the planks from separating sagging or buckling.

Visual congruity usually requires the boards to run. You want those boards to look like they are laid they way they are in a bowling alley all the way into the home through to the back. The most common way to lay install hardwood flooring is by aligning the planks parallel to the longest wall or run in the installation. While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines.

By way of explanation as you walk into the foyer the floor will be installed perpendicular to the front door threshold. Vertical flooring is the most common orientation for wood floors. In traditional design flooring is usually installed following the direction of the main light source.